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A “senseless” war

This woman was probably an American housewife whose husband’s brother was a colonel in the US Air force. She felt frustrated because she thought that war was senseless/useless/worthless. In her letter, she denounced the fact that innocent Vietnamese civilians were sometimes tortured by American soldiers or that too many young soldiers got wounded/injured or paralyzed during that conflict. She also said that it was unjustified and she protested against the government policy to raise/increase taxes in order to finance the war effort.

Vocabulary:

- housewife (pl.: housewives) (n) = femme au foyer

- senseless (adj)

- wounded / injured (adj) = blessé (grave)

- policy (n) = politique (mesures prises par le gouvernement)              – politics (n) = la politique (le monde de la politique)

- (to) raise/ increase (vb) = augmenter

To learn more about the different types of projects you can join when taking a gap year, watch this video from the  i to i website:

http://www.i-to-i.com/choosing-a-project.html

This is the vocabulary from our lesson. Copy it in your vocabulary page and learn!

- professor/lecturer (n) = professeur d’université/ maître de conférence ≠ teacher

- … used to be (oth) = référence à une habitude passée et terminée

- (to) shy away from (vb) = être intimidé par

- (to) graduate from college (oth) = être diplômé d’université

- college = university/uni

≠ secondary school (GB) / junior high school (US) = collège

- can afford to (oth) = have the money to

- odd job (n) = petit boulot

- (to) earn money (oth)= gagner de l’argent en travaillant ≠ to win money (oth) = gagner de l’argent au casino ou à la loterie

- (to) apply to (vb) = appliquer à ≠ (to) apply for (a job) = postuler (à un emploi)

- available (adj) = disponible

- (to) volunteer (vb) = travailler en tant que volontaire